gARTh's Movie Awards 2014

gARTh's Movie Awards: 2014

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N O M I N A T I O N S

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The following is what I hope to be an all-encompassing list of nominated films, performances, and technical achievements for films released in the year 2014.

Links have been provided for further information on nominated films, songs, and to view images.

Thank you for your participation. 

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Film: (select link for more information)

[ ]    American Sniper
[ ]    Birdman, or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
[ ]    Boyhood
[ ]    Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
[ ]    Gone Girl
[ ]    The Grand Budapest Hotel
[ ]    The Imitation Game
[ ]    Nightcrawler
[ ]    Selma
[ ]    Whiplash

Director:

[ ]    Paul Thomas Anderson - Inherent Vice
[ ]    Wes Anderson - The Grand Budapest Hotel
[ ]    J.C. Chandor - A Most Violent Year
[ ]    Ava DuVernay - Selma
[ ]    David Fincher - Gone Girl
[ ]    Dan Gilroy - Nightcrawler
[ ]    Alejandro González Iñárritu - Birdman, or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
[ ]    Richard Linklater - Boyhood
[ ]    Christopher Nolan - Interstellar
[ ]    Morten Tyldum - The Imitation Game

Actor:

[ ]    Steve Carell - Foxcatcher
[ ]    Bradley Cooper - American Sniper
[ ]    Benedict Cumberbatch - The Imitation Game
[ ]    Jake Gyllenhaal - Nightcrawler
[ ]    Oscar Isaac - A Most Violent Year
[ ]    Michael Keaton - Birdman, or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
[ ]    David Oyelowo - Selma
[ ]    Joaquin Phoenix - Inherent Vice
[ ]    Eddie Redmayne - The Theory of Everything
[ ]    Timothy Spall - Mr. Turner

Actress:

[ ]    Amy Adams - Big Eyes
[ ]    Jennifer Aniston - Cake
[ ]    Marion Cotillard - Two Days, One Night
[ ]    Essie Davis - The Babadook
[ ]    Scarlett Johansson - Under the Skin
[ ]    Felicity Jones - The Theory of Everything
[ ]    Julianne Moore - Still Alice
[ ]    Rosamund Pike - Gone Girl
[ ]    Reese Witherspoon - Wild
[ ]    Shailene Woodley - The Fault in Our Stars

Supporting Actor:

[ ]    Riz Ahmed - Nightcrawler
[ ]    Josh Brolin - Inherent Vice
[ ]    Robert Duvall - The Judge
[ ]    Ethan Hawke - Boyhood
[ ]    Edward Norton - Birdman, or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
[ ]    Randall Park - The Interview
[ ]    Mark Ruffalo - Foxcatcher
[ ]    Andy Serkis - Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
[ ]    J.K. Simmons - Whiplash
[ ]    Channing Tatum - Foxcatcher

Supporting Actress:

[ ]    Patricia Arquette - Boyhood
[ ]    Jessica Chastain - A Most Violent Year
[ ]    Laura Dern - Wild
[ ]    Carmen Ejogo - Selma
[ ]    Keira Knightley - The Imitation Game
[ ]    Jessica Lange - The Gambler
[ ]    Rene Russo - Nightcrawler
[ ]    Emma Stone - Birdman, or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
[ ]    Katherine Waterston - Inherent Vice
[ ]    Naomi Watts - St. Vincent

Adapted Screenplay:

[ ]    Paul Thomas Anderson - Inherent Vice
[ ]    Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness - The Grand Budapest Hotel
[ ]    Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth & Christopher McQuarrie - Edge of Tomorrow
[ ]    Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Richard LaGravenese & William Nicholson - Unbroken
[ ]    Gillian Flynn - Gone Girl
[ ]    James Gunn & Nicole Perlman - Guardians of the Galaxy
[ ]    Jason Hall - American Sniper
[ ]    Bong Joon-Ho & Kelly Masterson - Snowpiercer
[ ]    Andrew McCarten - The Theory of Everything
[ ]    Graham Moore - The Imitation Game

Original Screenplay:

[ ]    Stephen Beresford - Pride
[ ]    J.C. Chandor - A Most Violent Year
[ ]    Damien Chazelle - Whiplash
[ ]    E. Max Frye & Dan Futterman - Foxcatcher
[ ]    Dan Gilroy - Nightcrawler
[ ]    Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. & Armando Bo - Birdman, or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
[ ]    Richard Linklater - Boyhood
[ ]    John Michael McDonagh - Calvary
[ ]    Chris Rock - Top Five
[ ]    Paul Webb - Selma

Editing:

[ ]    Birdman, or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
[ ]    Boyhood
[ ]    Edge of Tomorrow
[ ]    The Imitation Game
[ ]    Inherent Vice
[ ]    Interstellar
[ ]    Locke
[ ]    Nightcrawler
[ ]    The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears (L'Étrange Couleur des Larmes de Ton Corps)
[ ]    Whiplash

Cinematography:

[ ]    Birdman, or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
[ ]    Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
[ ]    Gone Girl
[ ]    The Grand Budapest Hotel
[ ]    Interstellar
[ ]    A Most Violent Year
[ ]    Mr. Turner
[ ]    Nightcrawler
[ ]    The Theory of Everything
[ ]    Unbroken

Stuntwork:

[ ]    The Amazing Spider-Man 2
[ ]    Captain America: The Winter Soldier
[ ]    Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
[ ]    Edge of Tomorrow
[ ]    Guardians of the Galaxy
[ ]    The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
[ ]    The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1
[ ]    Need for Speed
[ ]    The Raid 2: Berandal
[ ]    X-Men: Days of Future Past

Production Design:

[ ]    Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
[ ]    Exodus: Gods and Kings
[ ]    The Grand Budapest Hotel
[ ]    Guardians of the Galaxy
[ ]    The Imitation Game
[ ]    Interstellar
[ ]    Noah
[ ]    Snowpiercer
[ ]    Unbroken
[ ]    X-Men: Days of Future Past

Costume Design:

[ ]    Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bête)
[ ]    Dracula Untold
[ ]    Edge of Tomorrow
[ ]    Exodus: Gods and Kings
[ ]    Guardians of the Galaxy
[ ]    The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
[ ]    The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1
[ ]    Into the Woods
[ ]    Maleficent
[ ]    Mr. Turner

Hair & Make-Up:

[ ]    Foxcatcher
[ ]    The Grand Budapest Hotel
[ ]    Guardians of the Galaxy
[ ]    The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
[ ]    The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1
[ ]    Into the Woods
[ ]    Maleficent
[ ]    Mr. Turner
[ ]    Noah
[ ]    X-Men: Days of Future Past

Visual Effects:

[ ]    The Amazing Spider-Man 2
[ ]    Captain America: The Winter Soldier
[ ]    Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
[ ]    Edge of Tomorrow
[ ]    Godzilla
[ ]    Guardians of the Galaxy
[ ]    The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
[ ]    Interstellar
[ ]    RoboCop
[ ]    X-Men: Days of Future Past

Sound Design & Mixing:

[ ]    The Amazing Spider-Man 2
[ ]    American Sniper
[ ]    Big Hero 6
[ ]    Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
[ ]    Fury
[ ]    Godzilla
[ ]    Interstellar
[ ]    The Signal
[ ]    Whiplash
[ ]    X-Men: Days of Future Past

Music - Original Score: (select link to listen)

[ ]    Alexandre Desplat  - The Grand Budapest Hotel
[ ]    Alexandre Desplat - The Imitation Game
[ ]    Jeff Grace - Cold In July
[ ]    James Newton Howard - Nightcrawler
[ ]    Henry Jackman - Big Hero 6
[ ]    Jóhann Jóhannsson - The Theory of Everything
[ ]    Thomas Newman - The Judge
[ ]    John Powell - How to Train Your Dragon 2
[ ]    Antonio Sánchez - Birdman, or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
[ ]    Hans Zimmer - Interstellar

Music - Original Song: (select link to listen)

[ ]    Damon Albarn - "Sister Rust" - Lucy 
[ ]    Common & John Legend - "Glory" - Selma
[ ]    Lana Del Rey - "Big Eyes" - Big Eyes
[ ]    Michael Fassbender, Carla Azar & Stephen Rennicks - "I Love You All" - Frank
[ ]    Jónsi - "Where No One Goes" - How to Train Your Dragon 2
[ ]    Keira Knightley, Gregg Alexander & Danielle Brisebois - "Lost Stars" - Begin Again
[ ]    Lorde - "Yellow Flicker Beat" - The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1
[ ]    Ciscandra Nostalghia & Tyler Bates - "Who You Talkin' To Man?" - John Wick
[ ]    The Shins - "So Now What" - Wish I Was Here
[ ]    Tegan & Sara featuring The Lonely Island - "Everything is Awesome!!!" - The LEGO Movie

Music - Use of Previously Recorded Song; Feature:

[ ]    The Band - "The Weight" - Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
[ ]    Jermaine Clement, Ray Liotta & Danny Terjo (Boys II Men cover) - "End of the Road" - The Muppets Most Wanted
[ ]    Leonard Cohen - "Dance Me to the End of Love" - Rosewater
[ ]    Paul McCartney & Wings - "Band on the Run" - Boyhood
[ ]    The Runaways - "Cherry Bomb" - Guardians of the Galaxy

Music - Use of Previously Recorded Song; Trailer:

[ ]    Blue Swede - "Hooked on a Feeling" - Guardians of the Galaxy
[ ]    Corner Stone Cues (Led Zeppelin cover) / Resonate Music Group - "Ten Years Kashmir: Movement II / Ionic Brain (Mash Up)" - X-Men: Days of Future Past
[ ]    Family of the Year - "Hero" - Boyhood
[ ]    Fieldwork - "This Is Not the End" - Edge of Tomorrow
[ ]    Sly & the Family Stone - "I Want to Take You Higher" - Inherent Vice

Animated Feature Film: (select link for more information)

[ ]    Big Hero 6
[ ]    The Book of Life
[ ]    The Boxtrolls
[ ]    How to Train Your Dragon 2
[ ]    The LEGO Movie
[ ]    Mr. Peabody & Sherman
[ ]    Penguins of Madagascar
[ ]    Rio 2
[ ]    Rocks in My Pockets
[ ]    Song of the Sea

Documentary Feature Film: (select link for more information)

[ ]    20,000 Days on Earth
[ ]    Citizenfour
[ ]    Finding Vivian Maier
[ ]    Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me
[ ]    Jodorowsky's Dune  
[ ]    Last Days in Vietnam
[ ]    Life Itself
[ ]    The Overnighters
[ ]    Salt of the Earth (Le Sel de la Terre)
[ ]    Virunga

Foreign Language Film: (select link for more information)

[ ]    Ida - Poland
[ ]    Leviathan (Leviafan) - Russia
[ ]    Norte, the End of History (Norte, hangganan ng kasaysayan) - Philippines
[ ]    The Raid 2: Berandal - Indonesia
[ ]    Tangerines (Mandariinid) - Georgia
[ ]    Timbuktu - Mauritania
[ ]    We Are the Best! (Vi är bäst!) - Sweden
[ ]    Why Don't You Play in Hell? (Jigoku de naze warui) - Japan
[ ]    Wild Tales (Relatos Salvajes) - Argentina
[ ]    Winter Sleep (Kis uykusu) - Turkey

Animated / Vocal Performance:

[ ]    Cate Blanchett - How to Train Your Dragon 2
[ ]    Ty Burrell - Mr. Peabody & Sherman
[ ]    Bradley Cooper - Guardians of the Galaxy
[ ]    Ben Kingsley - The Boxtrolls
[ ]    Chris Pratt - The LEGO Movie

Villainous Performance:

[ ]    Angelina Jolie - Maleficent
[ ]    Toby Kebbell - Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
[ ]    Richard Ng - Rigor Mortis
[ ]    Michael Parks - Tusk
[ ]    Sebastian Stan - Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Comedic Performance:

[ ]    Rose Byrne - Neighbors
[ ]    Ralph Fiennes - The Grand Budapest Hotel
[ ]    Bill Murray - St. Vincent
[ ]    Chris Pratt - Guardians of the Galaxy
[ ]    Cedric the Entertainer - Top Five

Cameo / Bit-Part Performance:

[ ]    Josh Brolin - Guardians of the Galaxy
[ ]    Ed Harris - Snowpiercer
[ ]    Toby Jones - Captain America: The Winter Soldier
[ ]    Christopher Lloyd - A Million Ways to Die in the West
[ ]    Martin Short - Inherent Vice

Debut Performance:

[ ]    Ellar Coltrane - Boyhood
[ ]    Carrie Coon - Gone Girl
[ ]    Jaeden Lieberher - St. Vincent
[ ]    Kuoth Wiel - The Good Lie
[ ]    Noah Wiseman - The Babadook

Debut Filmmaker:

[ ]    Yann Demange - '71
[ ]    Jennifer Kent - The Babadook
[ ]    Juno Mak - Rigor Mortis
[ ]    Charlie McDowell - The One I Love
[ ]    Justin Simien - Dear White People

Cast:

[ ]    Birdman, or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
[ ]    Fury
[ ]    The Grand Budapest Hotel
[ ]    Guardians of the Galaxy
[ ]    The Imitation Game
[ ]    Into the Woods
[ ]    Selma
[ ]    Snowpiercer
[ ]    Stonehearst Asylum
[ ]    X-Men: Days of Future Past

Scene:

[ ]    Captain America: The Winter Soldier - Attack on Nick Fury in the bustling streets of DC and ensuing chase.
[ ]    Edge of Tomorrow - Cage and J-Squad's initial landing and assault on the beach.
[ ]    Godzilla - HALO jump into San Fransisco as Godzilla fights the MUTOs.
[ ]    Guardians of the Galaxy - Prison break and escape from the Kyln.
[ ]    X-Men: Days of Future Past - Quicksilver has some fun in the Pentagon's kitchen.

Quote:

[ ]    Birdman, or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) - "Popularity is the slutty little cousin of prestige."
[ ]    Godzilla - "The arrogance of man is thinking that nature is in our control, and not the other way around. Let them fight."
[ ]    Guardians of the Galaxy - "We are Groot."
[ ]    Nightcrawler - "I feel like grabbing you by your ears right now and screaming, 'I'm not fucking interested!' Instead, I'm going to drive home and do some accounting."
[ ]    Whiplash - "There are no two words in the English language more harmful than 'good job.'"

Tagline:

[ ]    Cold in July - "How Many Men Can One Bullet Kill?"
[ ]    Gone Girl - "You Don't Know What You've Got 'Til It's..."
[ ]    Guardians of the Galaxy - "You're Welcome."
[ ]    Horns - "Love Hurts Like Hell."
[ ]    A Most Violent Year - "The Result Is Never in Question, Just the Path You Take to Get There."

Poster Art: (select link to view)

[ ]    Blue Ruin (One Sheet 3)
[ ]    Foxcatcher (Teaser)
[ ]    Gone Girl (Teaser)
[ ]    The Grand Budapest Hotel (One Sheet)
[ ]    Guardians of the Galaxy (One Sheet)
[ ]    Horns (One Sheet)
[ ]    Inherent Vice (Teaser)
[ ]    Nightcrawler (Teaser)
[ ]    The Signal (One Sheet)
[ ]    The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears (L'Étrange Couleur des Larmes de Ton Corps) (One Sheet) 

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Most Underrated Film:

Films that did not receive a wide release, were unsuccessful at the box office, were not nominated for any major awards or receive acclaim at any major film festivals, and were generally unknown to most audiences at the time of their release... but were well-liked by most critics and audiences that did happen to see them.

* To Be Announced with Winners 

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"Grindhouse" Film Award: (select link for more information)

Films that uphold the "Grindhouse" traditions of off-beat, exploitative, and taboo subjects, guerrilla film making techniques, and unconventional narrative structures, without which film making as a whole cannot move forward.

[ ]    Afflicted - Written and directed by Derek Lee & Cliff Prowse.
[ ]    Big Bad Wolves - Written and directed by Aharon Keshales & Navot Papushado.
[ ]    The Editor - Directed by Adam Brooks & Matthew Kennedy. Written by Adam Brooks, Matthew Kennedy & Conor Kennedy.
[ ]    The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears (L'Étrange Couleur des Larmes de Ton Corps) - Written and directed by Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani.
[ ]    Witching & Bitching (Las Brujas de Zugarramurdi) - Directed by Álex de la Iglesia. Written by Jorge Guerricaechevarría & Álex de la Iglesia.

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Special Achievement Award for Excellence in Film Making: :
* To Be Announced with Winners 

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Special Achievement Award for Excellence in Performance:
* To Be Announced with Winners 

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Special Achievement Award for Excellence in Writing:
* To Be Announced with Winners 

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Special Achievement Award for Technical Innovation:
* To Be Announced with Winners 

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Again, thank you for your participation.

- gARTh -

KMFDM's Our Time Will Come - Album Review

KMFDM
OUR TIME WILL COME
2014
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Ultra-heavy-beat pioneers and industrial-rock legends KMFDM turned 30 earlier this year, and with no signs of stopping they also released their nineteenth studio album, Our Time Will Come, on Tuesday Oct. 14, 2014.

And, it's one of their best albums.

In my opinion, 2005's Hau Ruck is the best album they've released since the 2002 reformation, and I also consider it to be the second best album of their career (only topped by 1995's Nihil). Our Time Will Come may not be quite as good as Hau Ruck, it's really too early to say, but it's somewhere just beneath it - say, around No. 5 on a Top 5 KMFDM albums list.

So, with that all in mind - where it ranks, in my opinion, in relation to other KMFDM albums - let's move on.

Opening the album is "GENAU" (German for "exactly" / "precisely") which is a fun song, that's not a self-referencing "KMFDM song" like the past few openers. It's a humorous ride through the German language (some of the song is in English, too). Besides being fun, it's interesting musically: it's rocking, it's got some of the best synths the band has used in almost 15 years, and it's a family affair - featuring lead vocals by Sascha, trading off vocals with wife Lucia, and bookending the song are a few lines by their daughter (including the opening line, "Hello, teenage America," which also opened the 1992 song "Vogue"). In some ways, "Genau" reminds me of "Megalomaniac" meets "Juke Joint Jezebel," which isn't a bad thing at all. It gets better as it goes, and gets better the more I listen to it (like the album as a whole). By about halfway through the song it should be apparent that this album has a tightness of musicianship, an excellence of songwriting craft, and a crispness of sound mixing that elevates it above even some of their better work over the past few albums. In less than two minutes I was sold that this album wasn't just going to be good - it would be something special. "Genau" is just a well done song. One that, if they still decide to release it as an actual single, would be a great song to use to bring their new music to the masses. And if this is the sound of "the German in you," then my inner German sounds friggin' awesome! (5/5)

Following that, we move into "SHAKE THE CAGE," which is sort of KMFDM's thoughts on the whole Snowden/NSA thing. However, it's not beating anyone over the head politically. It's funky, (yeah, that's right, I said funky) with a killer bass line running through it straight out of something like "The Problem" from 1993's Angst, with an equally killer guitar riff straight out of 1994's Nihil runnin' over it. It's got a great 'softer' vibe through the verses, that starts to get punched up as it goes, and then it really kicks in for the rockin' sing-along chorus. Keep an ear out for a Jules guitar solo towards the end, too; a nice touch. This is such a good song. There's a maturity present that the band has sometimes eschewed in favor of fun, while this song maintains its fun and listenability. A standout song, "Shake the Cage" is hands-down one of the best songs of its kind that they've ever done. (5/5)

Track three is "RESPEKT," which is downright hilarious. I'm not completely one-hundred-percent sure, but it seems to be a sort of mockery of the trolling behavior online. It's funny, but musically it's this uber-pounding, hard-rocking ultra-heavy-beat 1996's Xtort-era craze. But I love that it so embraces it's goofiness, while still managing to rock your socks off. Think of a funny, sarcasm-fueled Combichrist song channeled through KMFDM. The music and lead vocals are aided by guest Tom Stanzel of the Seattle music scene. And, one of my favorite 'little things' is the metallic hammering of an anvil that pops up to echo the vocals, it's such a great minor detail that ultimately adds a lot. (4/5)

Up next we find the title track: "OUR TIME WILL COME." Like "Shake the Cage," this song is unexpectedly awesome. These types of songs may not be the ones that old-school fans want to hear mixed in with "A Drug Against War" and "Flesh" on a live set list, but they're the kinds of songs that perfectly demonstrate just how far the band has actually come over the years. Musically. Lyrically. Stylistically. There's depth here, both in the songwriting and how the song is layed out, that they just didn't have back-in-the-day. It's got a really cool slower-yet-intricate beat and groove, with some piano sprinkled over it, then some minimal guitar and synth arrangements, all building to a great chorus. Lucia's vocals, too, are amazing, as are the synth "breakdowns." This song is another standout, and while it may be softer and less in-your-face than what people sometimes want or expect, I think this album, by way of songs like this, showcases the band working to its strengths without feeling like they're repeating themselves. Being more creative without feeling like they're just experimenting. This song is also a great example of why I think the album is one of the best. (5/5)

Track five is "SALVATION," which was released early to the band's Soundcloud page a week or so ago. It sort of - at first - appears to be KMFDM-by-numbers,  but it's so good that that claim quickly becomes ridiculous. The band is playing with a lot of new ideas here in a sound environment that's familiar, and the resulting hybrid of old and new comes out feeling fresh rather than mashed-up. It's similar to songs like 2003's "Stars & Stripes" and 2005's "New American Century" where Jules' guitar riff magic is just allowed to drive the song. But, the effect-laden vocals from Sascha are unexpected, and then Lucia's pop-diva vocals come in for a bit to help lead in Sascha's overly-commanding chorus. The song weaves the electronics and guitars together nicely (especially towards the end), and moves from crushing hard-industrial-rock to poppy-dancefloor-electronica and back again in flawless fashion. By the time the familiar lyrics from 1990's "Naive" show up in the bridge, the song has become this awesome animal all its own. This is probably the best of the faster songs on the album, and while it doesn't do anything that might be strikingly outside the box, all of the new "little things" succeed in reminding us that sometimes feeling familiar is a damn good thing. (4.5/5)

Track six, "BLOOD VS. MONEY," is another slightly-political song (again, nothing too on-the-nose to put anyone off), featuring Sascha's anger over the way things are being handled in the financial sector post-2008's collapse. The synths are dark and the beat is strange, reminding me a bit of the cool-as-hell beat from 1996's "Ikons" mixed with something like 1999's "Rubicon" and "Adios," with lyrics and vocals that actually remind me more of some of the things Sascha and Skold were doing with side-project MDFMK in 2000. It's a heavy, dark song with screaming vocals, but it's not a very fast song (the beat is more interesting than that). Again, it could be at home on 1999's Adios, just with the amount of electronic stuff going on in the song. This richness of sound and attention to detail helps elevate several tracks on the album, that could have wound up being simply pretty good, to a much higher, better level. (4/5)

At number seven, "GET THE TONGUE WET" not only has the most interesting song title on the album, but might be the most creative song the band has had in quite a while. I'm not even sure if I like some of the choices, per se. (When you hear it, you'll know the part I'm talking about). I mean, it all works, but certain things are so... different, but at the same time that is exactly the appeal. And once the song gets going it's really badass. This is both a new-classic-KMFDM pop song in the vein of "Looking For Strange" and "Real Thing," while at the same time it's the most unlike KMFDM - in a more mainstream pop-song sort of way - that I think they've ever done. It ends up being one of the highlights of the album simply because of it's creative choices and how much it stands out. Plus, it is super-duper fun to listen to. I have a feeling that this song will either grow on me to become a favorite, or possibly the opposite, in the years to come. It's interesting, cool, fun, catchy, has a great guitar-noise solo (at home beside some of NIN's With Teeth-era stuff) and features some truly awesome vocal work from Lucia. (4.5/5)

The eighth track, "BRAINWASHED," begins with voices and samples and strangeness, and then opens up into a sluggish industrial metal monster that in some ways reminds me of a Skold-era KMFDM song (the way Sascha's vocals are sung). It's completely badass and I absolutely love it. It's the heaviest song on the album, and the guitar riffin' here is crunchy and catchy, the ultra-slow ultra-heavy beat is infectious (try to get through it without slow-banging at least a little bit), and the lyrics to this one were the ones out of any song on the album that were stuck in my head all day. I like that the song feels in some ways exactly like its title, like it's brainwashing you - just pounding and heavy and slightly-repetitous in a good way - as it builds in ferocity. Here and there the song adds these tiny little textures (there's a keyboard part that pops up briefly that I friggin' love) as it goes, just making it sound that much more complete. This one will/should be a staple of live shows from here on out. (5/5)

The ninth track, "PLAYING GOD," is sort-of another KMFDM pseudo-pop-song, in the vein of tracks 2, 4 and 7, but... it's also something else. There's a vibe that I get from this that, again, harkens back to the craziness and richness of Xtort and Adio. If you haven't noticed by now, there's a lot of referencing to their past on this album, not just in a fun fan-service-song full of popular KMFDM phrases, but some really interesting throwbacks to styles, particular sounds, re-using lyrics in alternate contexts, it's self-homage without the need of a wink and a nudge. It's like their whole career was building up to this album, and so I've tried to include as many of the references that I've caught on my initial listens, all of the things that reminded me of something from KMFDM-past, in hopes that you'll see that while the album is definitely new, fresh, and creatively showcasing the band at a peak, it also knows its own history and that's on display, too. "Playing God" is my favorite song on the album, and I don't even know if I can explain why. It's just a really great song; it's fun to listen to, it's interesting, and it stands tall over any other song of its kind out there in every possible way. It's got the guitars (some awesome riffs), the beats (I love this beat!), the synths and bass lines (the way these seamlessly intertwine with the guitars reminds me of why I love KMFDM so much in the first place), all of the weapons from the KMFDM arsenal. Yet, as I said, it's wrapped into a more pop-song package - while still managing to retain its badassness. And above all else, it's sooooo well done. The lyrics and vocals, in particular, stand out amongst the stand-outs. (If "Brainwashed" isn't stuck in your head, this one will be). The way the beat and synths/electronics work together building up as the guitar riffs kick in... it's just awesome. In my opinion, "Playing God" - more than any other song on the album - will be the one that I personally include on all my KMFDM playlists/mix CDs/whatever in the years to come. (5/5)

And now we come to the end. The album's closer, "MAKE YOUR STAND," is over six minutes of club-stomping coolness. It's repetitive - musically and lyrically - in that electronic music way, but it works so well. Featuring lead vocals by William Wilson that lend the song a different feel to the rest of the album, and guest musicianship by Tom Stanzel and composing by Seattle DJ Paul Aleinikoff that all aids in the sheer amount of stuff going on in this song. KMFDM haven't had a song like this since probably... actually, I don't know if they've ever done a song like this. 1990's "Freide" maybe? Some of the remixes of "Megalomaniac" from the MDFMK single? This song is almost like a love-letter to certain type of electro-industrial that KMFDM generally has one foot in, but never two. But there are most-definitely those KMFDM moments, never letting the song get away from "their sound" too much. In particular, the badass slide-guitar that creeps over the track occasionally, very 2003's "Bullets Bombs & Bigotry" or even 1995's "Ultra." As an album closer, it is completely kickass because of the fact that it just goes. In electronic music, having great forward momentum can never be over-stressed. And I love that sort of "big finish" in a final track, because, though we live in a digital world, I still love it when an album feels put together right. Pay attention to how the song goes from being a love-letter to something like Front 242's "Headhunter" club remixes to something akin to a Nitzer Ebb song at around the five minute mark, and then back into the club jam. Damn that's nice. (4.5/5)

Ya know...

The more I think about it (and listen to it, as I write this it'll mark my fifth full listen-through), Our Time Will Come might end up being higher in the band's career Top 5 than I originally thought. I mean, if my initial song ratings are in any way 'correct,' then that means that the worst songs on the album are the 4 star songs; "Respekt" and "Blood vs. Money." But, honestly, those two songs, while maybe they aren't as stand-out as the rest on this album, are better songs than many of the band's most well-known and "classic" tracks. What does that say about those songs, or this album, and how the band has evolved?

(It says that this album is damn-near flawless from start-to-finish, and the only reason not to admit it is because of some foolish stubborn nostalgia for the classic albums).

I think that might be right, I'm afraid to say that the albums I grew up with and consider to be part of the band's Golden Era - 1993's Angst, 1996's Xtort, 1997's 'Symbols,' and 1999's Adios - aren't quite as good as I claim them to be. I love 'em, but I'll freely admit that not one of those albums is amazing from start to finish. Each of them has songs that I either tend to skip or flatout just don't like.

1995's Nihil may still be their high water mark, and it probably always will be, but I was willing to admit to myself when 2005's Hau Ruck kept getting better and better the more I listened to it. Hau Ruck, like Our Time Will Come, has no songs that I dislike or skip. So, who knows... Our Time Will Come, almost two decades later than Nihil and almost a decade after Hau Ruck, might join those ranks as KMFDM masterpiece No. 3.

Regardless of where you or I end up ranking it amongst their other 18 albums, KMFDM has made a statement of sorts with Our Time Will Come. They've said, "This is KMFDM in the year 2014, and we're just as alive and relevant as we've ever been, if not more so. We're just as creative and musically inventive as we've ever been, if not more so. We've matured, but haven't lost our sense of play. We've moved into new territories, without forgetting the plethora of components that led to our success over the past thirty years. We are constantly evolving, moving forward with momentum, while always maintaining one foot firmly rooted in the past so that we never forget. We are KMFDM, and our time has come."

In summation, Our Time Will Come is as close to perfect as an electro-industrial-rock album can get, and that it happened in 2014 and not the early-to-mid 90's is probably the most amazing thing about it (when was the last Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, or Skinny Puppy album released that you'd seriously even consider saying was equal to their best work. Yeah, that's what I thought. That's not a stab necessarily at the later output of those groups, but... it is what it is).

Our Time Will Come is well worth picking up, I cannot recommend it enough. It's a great place to start if you're just now getting into them, a great place to pick 'em back up if you've been away for a while, and if you've maintained your fandom to the fullest throughout the years... then honestly what the hell are you even reading this for, just go pick it up already and enjoy.

It's now available in stores and online, or for purchase through the band directly via the KMFDM Store (www.kmfdm.net), in several formats and options: digital download, CD, or as a CD plus T-shirt & poster bundle.
______________________________________________

5 out of 5

- gARTh -

gARTh's 2013 Movie Awards: Winners

gARTh's 2013 Movie Awards

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W I N N E R S :

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Film: 12 Years a Slave

Director: Alfonso Cuarón - Gravity

Actor: Matthew McConaughey - Dallas Buyers Club

Actress: Cate Blanchett - Blue Jasmine

Supporting Actor: Jared Leto - Dallas Buyers Club

Supporting Actress: Jennifer Lawrence - American Hustle

Adapted Screenplay: Terence Winter - The Wolf of Wall Street

Original Screenplay: Spike Jonze - Her

Editing: Rush

Cinematography: Gravity

Stuntwork: Iron Man 3

Art Direction: The Great Gatsby

Costume Design: The Great Gatsby

Make-Up: American Hustle

Visual Effects: Gravity

Sound Mixing: The Great Gatsby

Music - Original Score: Arcade Fire - Her

Music - Original Song: Lana Del Ray - "Young and Beautiful" - The Great Gatsby

Music - Use of Previously Recorded Song; Feature: Muse - "The 2nd Law: Isolated System" - World War Z

Music - Use of Previously Recorded Song; Trailer: Lou Reed - "Perfect Day" - You're Next

Animated Feature Film: The Wind Rises (Kaze Tachinu)

Documentary Feature Film: 20 Feet from Stardom

Foreign Language Film: The Hunt (Jagten) - Denmark

Animated / Vocal Performance: Scarlett Johansson - Her

Villainous Performance: Sharlto Copely - Elysium

Comedic Performance: Dwayne Johnson - Pain & Gain

Cameo / Bit-Part Performance: Michael Cera - This Is the End

Breakthrough Performance: Barkhad Abdi - Captain Phillips

Breakthrough Filmmaker: John Krokidas - Kill Your Darlings

Cast: The Wolf of Wall Street

Scene: Evil Dead - Finale: And the rain shall turn to blood.

Quote: The World's End 

"Tonight, we will be partaking of a liquid repast, as we wind our way up the golden mile commencing with an inaugural tankard in The First Post, then on to The Old Familiar, The Famous Cock, The Cross Hands The Good Companions, The Trusty Servant, The Two-Headed Dog, The Mermaid, The Beehive, The King’s Head, and The Hole in the Wall for a measure of the same—all before the last bittersweet pint in that most fateful: The World’s End. Leave a light on, good lady, for though we may return with a twinkle in our eyes, we will in truth be blind—drunk!"

Tagline: John Dies at the End

"Just So You Know... They're Sorry For Everything That's About To Happen."

Poster Art: (select link to view)

Nebraska (One Sheet)

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Most Underrated Film:

Films that did not receive a wide release, were unsuccessful at the box office, were not nominated for any major awards or receive acclaim at any major film festivals, and were generally unknown to most audiences at the time of their release... but were well-liked by most critics and audiences that did happen to see them.

+1 - Directed by Dennis Iliadis. Written by Bill Gullo.

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"Grindhouse" Film Award:

Films that uphold the "Grindhouse" traditions of off-beat, exploitative, and taboo subjects, guerrilla filmmaking techniques, and unconventional narrative structures, without which filmmaking as a whole cannot move forward.

John Dies At the End - Written and Directed by Don Coscarelli.

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Special Achievement Award for Excellence in Filmmaking:

Alfonso Cuarón - Gravity

Often, the films that become notorious for their awe-inspiring visuals are not always the films that tell the most in-depth stories or have the best written characters. George Lucas and James Cameron are filmmakers who have built careers on pushing the film medium forward (by giant leaps), but their films are not always remembered for being the very best films, they are simply outstanding and dazzling visual entertainment.

Alfonso Cuarón has likewise built his career on visual storytelling, but in a way that has seperated him from the likes of Lucas and Cameron. The Little Princess, Great Expectations, and Y Tu Mamá También are all visual feasts, but of a more arthouse variety. The characters and story are still in the forefront, while the visuals he utilizes are servicing the characters and story and not the other way around. It wasn't until his first blockbuster film, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, that he showed that he could still maintain a focus on character and story within a huge world of big-budget visual effects. After that, he proved that it wasn't just the Harry Potter formula, with his brilliantly made science fiction film Children of Men - which has some of the greatest camera moves and visual trickery ever put on film.

Seven years later, he returns with Gravity. On the surface, Gravity is almost a simple story - two people fight for survival in a life-threatening situation in outer space. This scenario brings to mind, at first, something akin to Apollo 13.

But, being the kind of visual director that Cuarón is, Gravity turns out to be much more that just a story of two people in space. The way the film is made, and the realistic detail in which outer space and what it's really like, bring a seemingly simple thriller story involving minimal characters into uncharted territory. Because it's all trickery - of the camera, of the sound, of the light, and using digital effects to put it all into a life-like framework that now makes a film like Apollo 13 seem quite tame.

And whether people respond to the characters and the story of a film like this doesn't matter, because at the end of the day the biggest character in a film like this is its environment. Much like the forests of Pandora in Avatar, space in Gravity is the central focus. And Cuarón has filmed his subject so well, and using such interesting devices to do so, that it's amazing how real it seems. It's not just "special effects," it's not just an amazing sound design or great performances by the actors to sell it, it's a combination of everything in the book and then some, all masterfully crafted by an artisan of the film industry and placed before you to experience. Not just to watch as entertainment - but to experience.

And that, more than anything else, is what motion pictures were made for.

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Special Achievement Award for Excellence in Performance:

Adèle Exarchopoulos & Léa Seydoux - Blue Is the Warmest Color (La vie d'Adèle)

Raw emotion, powerful and real and unflinching. Say what you want about the movie, its director, or the taboo subject matter (that it expertly handles to the point of rendering it passed shock onto endearing) but any way you look at it these two female leads give performances for the ages. That the characters are so well defined, so well captured in every little detail, two living and breathing real women, makes the subject matter seem much more real than it actually is (it is only a movie, not sure why all the fuss).

Both actresses shared in the film's win of the Palm D'or at the Cannes Film Festival, the first time ever that anyone other than the director was given the award. And deservedly so. The film is great, it's direction, writing, cinematography, everything is handled very well... but like Charlize Theron in Monster, the performances of Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux overshadow the film itself, and have already helped to carve out their own little nitch in film history. Twenty years from now, no one will remember all the fuss caused by a bunch of prudes over some sex scenes, but their performances will remain just as strong and captivating.
 

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Special Achievement Award for Excellence in Writing:

Spike Jonze - Her

While best known for his directing - Charlie Kaufman's brilliantly written films Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, the beautifully imaginative take on Where the Wild Things Are, and a slew of the best music videos to come out of the '90's - Spike Jonze is not always remembered as a great writer in his own right. However, he did co-write Where the Wild Things Are, not exactly an easy tale to tell, and whether anyone knows it or not, his off-beat sense of humor has been on display for years - he's the creator of the show "Jackass" and has helped to write and put together each of the theatrical films. All of these collected works, though, could not have prepared the world for such a touching and beautifully crafted love story in Her. And yet, though his time working with Kaufman probably rubbed off on him a bit, this is a tale I don't think anyone other than Jonze could have told.

The use of subtlety in acting gives realism and nuance to the most trivial of facial expressions or body language. In direction, subtlety brings out "the little things" that sometimes matter more to the telling of a story than anything else. The use of subtlety in writing is, however, not only difficult to do in the first place, but difficult to convey. Somehow, Jonze does it. In his use of the words he has his characters speak, to the way scenes play out almost unconventionally. It's poignant in that way that afternoon sunlight filtering into a room or raindrops on a window pane can hold one's gaze for minutes - or hours. It's such a simple thing, when you stop and think about it, but man is it amazing how wonderful it is while you're captivated.

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Special Achievement Award for Technical Innovation:

Neil Corbould, Glenn Freemantle, Emmanuel Lubezki, Tim Webber, & Alfonso Cuarón - Gravity

For the development of the lighting aperatus known as The Lightbox, a nine foot cube outfitted with 4,096 LED bulbs that could replicate any lighting effects, and shadows, onto and across the actors faces.

For the development of a newly designed harness that could move the actors in any direction, puppeteered by off-camera crews, to simulate weightlessness in a way never before achieved.

For the development of a two-ton camera rig that could move around the actors in a similar weightless fashion.

The mixing/bluring of the production design, the photography and camera, the visual effects, and the practical special effects into one organism with one goal in the way that this film was made (taking four and a half years to get right), is almost unheard of. Similar to the 2002 Special Achievement winner (David Fincher and the DP's of Panic Room) and 2009 Special Achievement winner (James Cameron and the crew of Avatar), the technical innovations of Gravity are just as stupifying in their end result as the film as a whole, and will most assuredly have an impact on future films and future generations of filmmakers and technical wizards.

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Thanks to all that participated.

- gARTh -

gARTh's Movie Awards 2013: Nominations

NOMINATIONS

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The following is what I hope to be an all-encompassing list of nominated films, performances, and technical achievements for films released in the year 2013.

Links have been provided for further information on nominated films, scores, songs, and to view images. (Apologies if the links are broken or no longer working).

Thank you in advance for your participation.

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Film:

[ ]    12 Years a Slave
[ ]    American Hustle
[ ]    Captain Phillips
[ ]    Dallas Buyers Club
[ ]    Gravity
[ ]    Her
[ ]    Nebraska
[ ]    Philomena
[ ]    Rush
[ ]    The Wolf of Wall Street

Director:

[ ]    J.C. Chandor - All Is Lost
[ ]    Alfonso Cuarón - Gravity
[ ]    Paul Greengrass - Captain Phillips
[ ]    Ron Howard - Rush
[ ]    Spike Jonze - Her
[ ]    Steve McQueen - 12 Years a Slave
[ ]    Jeff Nichols - Mud
[ ]    Alexander Payne - Nebraska
[ ]    David O. Russell - American Hustle
[ ]    Martin Scorsese - The Wolf of Wall Street

Actor:

[ ]    Christian Bale - American Hustle
[ ]    Bruce Dern - Nebraska
[ ]    Leonardo DiCaprio - The Wolf of Wall Street
[ ]    Chiwetel Ejiofor - 12 Years a Slave
[ ]    Idris Elba - Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
[ ]    Tom Hanks - Captain Phillips
[ ]    James McAvoy - Filth
[ ]    Matthew McConaughey - Dallas Buyers Club
[ ]    Joaquin Phoenix - Her
[ ]    Robert Redford - All Is Lost

Actress:

[ ]    Amy Adams - American Hustle
[ ]    Cate Blanchett - Blue Jasmine
[ ]    Sandra Bullock - Gravity
[ ]    Julie Delpy - Before Midnight
[ ]    Judi Dench - Philomena
[ ]    Adèle Exarchopoulos - Blue Is the Warmest Color (La vie d'Adèle)
[ ]    Greta Gerwig - Frances Ha
[ ]    Brie Larson - Short Term 12
[ ]    Meryl Streep - August: Osage County
[ ]    Emma Thompson - Saving Mr. Banks

Supporting Actor:

[ ]    Barkhad Abdi - Captain Phillips
[ ]    Daniel Brühl - Rush
[ ]    Bradley Cooper - American Hustle
[ ]    Joel Edgerton - The Great Gatsby
[ ]    Michael Fassbender - 12 Years a Slave
[ ]    James Gandolfini - Enough Said
[ ]    Jake Gyllenhaal - Prisoners
[ ]    Jonah Hill - The Wolf of Wall Street
[ ]    Jared Leto - Dallas Buyers Club
[ ]    Sam Rockwell - The Way Way Back

Supporting Actress:

[ ]    Sally Hawkins - Blue Jasmine
[ ]    Felicity Jones - The Invisible Woman
[ ]    Jennifer Lawrence - American Hustle
[ ]    Lupita Nyong'o - 12 Years a Slave
[ ]    Julia Roberts - August: Osage County
[ ]    Léa Seydoux - Blue Is the Warmest Color (La vie d'Adèle)
[ ]    Octavia Spencer - Fruitvale Station
[ ]    June Squibb - Nebraska
[ ]    Sharon Stone - Lovelace
[ ]    Oprah Winfrey - The Butler

Adapted Screenplay:

[ ]    Peter Berg - Lone Survivor
[ ]    Steve Coogan & Jeff Pope - Philomena
[ ]    Don Coscarelli - John Dies at the End
[ ]    Destin Cretton  - Short Term 12
[ ]    Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, & Richard Linklater - Before Midnight
[ ]    Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber - The Spectacular Now
[ ]    Michael Polish - Big Sur
[ ]    Billy Ray - Captain Phillips
[ ]    John Ridley - 12 Years a Slave
[ ]    Terence Winter - The Wolf of Wall Street

Original Screenplay:

[ ]    Woody Allen - Blue Jasmine
[ ]    Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack - Dallas Buyers Club
[ ]    Derek Cianfrance, Ben Coccio, & Darius Marder - The Place Beyond the Pines
[ ]    Ethan Coen & Joel Coen - Inside Llewyn Davis
[ ]    Aaron Guzikowski - Prisoners
[ ]    Spike Jonze - Her
[ ]    Bob Nelson - Nebraska
[ ]    Jeff Nichols - Mud
[ ]    Simon Pegg & Edgar Wright - The World's End
[ ]    David O. Russell & Eric Warren Singer - American Hustle

Editing:

[ ]    12 Years a Slave
[ ]    American Hustle
[ ]    Captain Phillips
[ ]    Dallas Buyers Club
[ ]    Gravity
[ ]    The Great Gatsby
[ ]    The Place Beyond the Pines
[ ]    Prisoners
[ ]    Rush
[ ]    The Wolf of Wall Street

Cinematography:

[ ]    Ain't Them Bodies Saints
[ ]    Gravity
[ ]    The Great Gatsby
[ ]    Inside Llewyn Davis
[ ]    Oblivion
[ ]    Only God Forgives
[ ]    Prisoners
[ ]    Rush
[ ]    The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
[ ]    The Wolf of Wall Street

Stuntwork:

[ ]    Fast & Furious 6
[ ]    G.I. Joe: Retaliation
[ ]    The Grandmaster (Yi Dai Zong Shi)
[ ]    Iron Man 3
[ ]    Lone Survivor
[ ]    Rush
[ ]    Star Trek Into Darkness
[ ]    Thor: The Dark World
[ ]    The Wolverine
[ ]    World War Z

Art Direction:

[ ]    12 Years a Slave
[ ]    American Hustle
[ ]    Gangster Squad
[ ]    Gravity
[ ]    The Great Gatsby
[ ]    Her
[ ]    Oblivion
[ ]    Oz the Great and Powerful
[ ]    Pacific Rim
[ ]    Star Trek Into Darkness

Costume Design:

[ ]    12 Years a Slave
[ ]    47 Ronin
[ ]    American Hustle
[ ]    The Grandmaster (Yi Dai Zong Shi)
[ ]    The Great Gatsby
[ ]    The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
[ ]    The Invisible Woman
[ ]    Man of Steel
[ ]    Oz the Great and Powerful
[ ]    Thor: The Dark World

Make-Up:

[ ]    American Hustle
[ ]    The Butler
[ ]    Dallas Buyers Club
[ ]    Evil Dead
[ ]    The Great Gatsby
[ ]    Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters
[ ]    The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
[ ]    Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa
[ ]    The Lone Ranger
[ ]    Rush

Visual Effects:

[ ]    Gravity
[ ]    The Great Gatsby
[ ]    The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
[ ]    Iron Man 3
[ ]    Jack the Giant Slayer
[ ]    Man of Steel
[ ]    Oblivion
[ ]    Pacific Rim
[ ]    Star Trek Into Darkness
[ ]    The Wolf of Wall Street

Sound Mixing:

[ ]    All Is Lost
[ ]    Captain Phillips
[ ]    Gravity
[ ]    The Great Gatsby
[ ]    The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
[ ]    Iron Man 3
[ ]    Lone Survivor
[ ]    Pacific Rim
[ ]    Rush
[ ]    Upstream Color

Music - Original Score: (select link to listen)

[ ]    Arcade Fire - Her
[ ]    Alexandre Desplat - Philomena
[ ]    Alex Ebert - All Is Lost
[ ]    Henry Jackman - Captain Phillips
[ ]    Jóhann Jóhannsson - Prisoners
[ ]    M83 - Oblivion
[ ]    Thomas Newman - Saving Mr. Banks
[ ]    Steven Price - Gravity
[ ]    John Williams - The Book Thief
[ ]    Hans Zimmer - 12 Years a Slave

Music - Original Song: (select link to listen)

[ ]    Airborne Toxic Event - "Hell & Back" - Dallas Buyers Club
[ ]    Big Harp, Mike Mogis, & Nathaniel Walcott - "At Your Door" - Stuck In Love
[ ]    Coldplay - "Atlas" - The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
[ ]    IAMEVE - "To Feel Alive" - Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters
[ ]    Robert Lopez & Kristen Anderson-Lopez - "Let It Go" - Frozen
[ ]    The Lumineers - "Gale Song" - The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
[ ]    Karen O - "The Moon Song" - Her
[ ]    Lana Del Ray - "Young and Beautiful" - The Great Gatsby
[ ]    U2 - "Ordinary Love" - Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
[ ]    Pharrell Williams - "Happy" - Despicable Me 2

Music - Use of Previously Recorded Song; Feature:

[ ]    Chester Burnett - "Smokestack Lightning" - The Wolf of Wall Street
[ ]    The Cryin' Shames (Burt Bacharach) - "Please Stay" - The Place Beyond the Pines
[ ]    Elton John - "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" - American Hustle
[ ]    Muse - "The 2nd Law: Isolated System" - World War Z
[ ]    Primal Scream - "Loaded" - The World's End

Music - Use of Previously Recorded Song; Trailer:

[ ]    Awolnation - "Sail" - Disconnect
[ ]    Lou Reed - "Perfect Day" - You're Next
[ ]    Sleigh Bells - "Crown on the Ground" - The Bling Ring
[ ]    Kanye West - "Black Skinhead" - The Wolf of Wall Street
[ ]    Jack White (U2) - "Love Is Blindness" - The Great Gatsby

Animated Feature Film:

[ ]    Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
[ ]    The Croods
[ ]    Despicable Me 2
[ ]    Epic
[ ]    Ernest & Célestine
[ ]    Frozen
[ ]    Monsters University
[ ]    The Tale of Princess Kaguya (Kaguyahime no monogatari)
[ ]    Turbo
[ ]    The Wind Rises (Kaze Tachinu)

Documentary Feature Film:

[ ]    20 Feet from Stardom
[ ]    The Act of Killing
[ ]    Blackfish  
[ ]    Cutie and the Boxer
[ ]    Dirty Wars
[ ]    Sound City   
[ ]    The Square
[ ]    Stories We Tell
[ ]    Tim's Vermeer
[ ]    We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks

Foreign Language Film:

[ ]    Blancanieves - Spain
[ ]    Blue Is the Warmest Color (La vie d'Adèle) - France
[ ]    The Broken Circle Breakdown - Belgium
[ ]    The Grandmaster (Yi dai zong shi) - Hong Kong
[ ]    The Great Beauty (La Grande Bellezza) - Italy
[ ]    The Hunt (Jagten) - Denmark
[ ]    Metro Manila - Phillipines
[ ]    Omar - Palestine
[ ]    The Past (Le Passé) - France
[ ]    Wadja - Saudi Arabia

Animated / Vocal Performance:

[ ]    Kristen Bell - Frozen
[ ]    Benedict Cumberbatch - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
[ ]    Scarlett Johansson - Her
[ ]    Joey King - Oz the Great and Powerful
[ ]    Bill Nighy & John Kassir - Jack the Giant Slayer

Villainous Performance:

[ ]    Sharlto Copely - Elysium
[ ]    Benedict Cumberbatch - Star Trek Into Darkness
[ ]    Woody Harrelson - Out of the Furnace
[ ]    Sean Penn - Gangster Squad
[ ]    Michael Shannon - Man of Steel

Comedic Performance:

[ ]    Nick Frost - The World's End
[ ]    Jonah Hill - This Is the End
[ ]    Dwayne Johnson - Pain & Gain
[ ]    Simon Pegg - The World's End
[ ]    Kristen Wiig - Girl Most Likely

Cameo / Bit-Part Performance:

[ ]    Joe Don Baker - Mud
[ ]    Pierce Brosnan - The World's End
[ ]    Michael Cera - This Is the End
[ ]    Andrew Dice Clay - Blue Jasmine
[ ]    Chris Evans - Thor: The Dark World

Breakthrough Performance:

[ ]    Barkhad Abdi - Captain Phillips
[ ]    Annie Rose Buckley - Saving Mr. Banks
[ ]    Rila Fukushima - The Wolverine
[ ]    Jacob Lofland - Mud
[ ]    Lupita Nyong'o - 12 Years a Slave

Breakthrough Filmmaker:

[ ]    Lake Bell - In a World...
[ ]    Josh Boone - Stuck In Love
[ ]    Ryan Coogler - Fruitvale Station
[ ]    Joseph Gordon-Levitt - Don Jon
[ ]    John Krokidas - Kill Your Darlings

Cast:

[ ]    12 Years a Slave
[ ]    American Hustle
[ ]    August: Osage County
[ ]    Blue Jasmine
[ ]    The Butler
[ ]    Mud
[ ]    Now You See Me
[ ]    The Place Beyond the Pines
[ ]    Prisoners
[ ]    The Wolf of Wall Street

Scene:

[ ]    Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues - The news anchor battle royale.
[ ]    Evil Dead - Finale: And the rain shall turn to blood.
[ ]    Gravity - Mid-orbit collision.
[ ]    Iron Man 3 - Party Time Protocol initiated.
[ ]    World War Z - Outbreak in the traffic-clogged streets of Philadelphia.

Quote:

[ ]     American Hustle - "You're nothing to me until you're everything."

[ ]     Dallas Buyers Club - "Watch what you eat and who you eat."

[ ]     Her - "Sometimes I think I have felt everything I'm ever gonna feel, and from here on out I'm not gonna feel anything new. Just lesser versions of what I've already felt."

[ ]     Philomena - "I forgive you, because I don't want to remain angry."

[ ]     The World's End - "Tonight, we will be partaking of a liquid repast, as we wind our way up the golden mile commencing with an inaugural tankard in The First Post, then on to The Old Familiar, The Famous Cock, The Cross Hands The Good Companions, The Trusty Servant, The Two-Headed Dog, The Mermaid, The Beehive, The King’s Head, and The Hole in the Wall for a measure of the same—all before the last bittersweet pint in that most fateful: The World’s End. Leave a light on, good lady, for though we may return with a twinkle in our eyes, we will in truth be blind—drunk!"

Tagline:

[ ]     Blackfish - "Never Capture What You Can't Control."
[ ]     John Dies at the End - "Just So You Know... They're Sorry For Everything That's About To Happen."
[ ]     Pain & Gain - "Their American Dream Is Bigger Than Yours."
[ ]     Warm Bodies - "There's Nothing Hotter Than a Girl With Brains."
[ ]     The World's End - "Prepare to Get Annihilated."

Poster Art: (select link to view)

[ ]    Byzantium (Teaser)
[ ]    Captain Phillips (One Sheet)
[ ]    The Conjuring (One Sheet 2)
[ ]    The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Special One Sheet)
[ ]    Kiss of the Damned (One Sheet)
[ ]    Nebraska (One Sheet)
[ ]    Only God Forgives (One Sheet 10)
[ ]    Stoker (Teaser)
[ ]    Trance (One Sheet 5)
[ ]    The Wolverine (Teaser)

::- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -::

 "Grindhouse" Film Award:

Films that uphold the "Grindhouse" traditions of off-beat, exploitative, and taboo subjects, guerrilla film making techniques, and unconventional narrative structures, without which film making as a whole cannot move forward.

[ ]    Bad Milo!
[ ]    Escape from Tomorrow
[ ]    Frankenstein's Army
[ ]    John Dies At the End
[ ]    V/H/S/2

::- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -::

Again, thank you for your participation. Please have votes in no later than February 28, 2014.

- gARTh -

Superman Returns, Again, in Man Of Steel: A Movie Review

* * (Minor Spoiler Alert. Nothing much, but a few basics and a few minor specifics are mentioned that aren't in the trailers) * *

In 1978, the first comic book superhero came to life as a major motion picture event, and the world first believed that a man could fly. That film was Superman, directed by Richard Donner. It was fitting that the original superhero star that had launched a new wave of comic books would be the first to grace the silver screen in such a way, ushering in a new wave of comic heroes on film. While the current superhero movie craze began with the success of 2000's X-Men and 2003's Spider-Man, it all goes back to the first one to treat the source and characters with respect, instead of simply treating it as a comic book. The film went on to be a box office smash, garner critical acclaim, and was nominated for three Academy Awards, winning a Special Achievement Award for its visual effects. It is still one of the highest rated films of the genre (93% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, 86 MetaCritic Average), and many (myself included) still consider it to be the best, or one of the best, comicbook superhero films ever made.

However, as the films starring Christopher Reeve continued on, each subsequent film degenerated back to the campy, often corny, simplistic versions that the original film tried so hard to distance itself from. By 1987, when Superman IV: The Quest for Peace was released, the series had become laughably bad, with both critics and audiences panning the film. The series would then go through many false starts, as changes and ideas were thrown around about how to re-establish the quintessential superhero on film, and it would languish in what is known in Hollywood as "Development Hell" for the next 19 years.

In 2004, director Bryan Singer, fresh off of his success with X2: X-Men United, pitched an idea to his producer Lauren Schuler Donner and her husband Richard Donner. The idea was that Superman was returning to Earth after a five year absence, and would therefore work as both a continuation of the Donner film (and the Donner version of Superman II) and also as a reboot of the character for modern audiences as Superman tries to find his place in a world that has gotten along just fine without him. In 2006, Superman Returns was released. The film opened strong at the box office and performed well enough to make a profit (almost $400 million worldwide), and was well-received by critics (75% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, 72 MetaCritic Average). It was nominated for an Academy Award for Visual Effects, and went on to be a huge success on Home Media Sales Charts (DVD sales/rentals, Bluray, HD-DVD).

Despite all of this, fan reactions were mixed upon its release. Criticisms began circulating through the internet community, fuel was added by a notable, and influential, review by comic book fan/filmmaker Kevin Smith (who had drafted one of the previous false-start scripts), and all of this created a negative buzz that has lingered over the film ever since. In 2009, partly due to this backlash, filmmaker Quentin Tarantino publicly declared his appreciation for Bryan Singer's work on the film, particularly the romantic and classic style. Alas, the sequel that Singer had built towards and planned had by that time been cancelled, the film was considered a disappointment overall, and Warner Bros. had decided to try to reboot the character... again.

And so, here we arrive, finally, at the latest incarnation of Superman on the silver screen, 35 years after his debut:

Man of Steel.

The title itself forgoes the superhero brand-name for something a little stronger, a little darker, and a little less corny, much like the re-titling of the recent Batman films. That's probably because this time the character is being brought to life by the same hands that helped bring Batman to life in The Dark Knight trilogy (producer Christopher Nolan and screenwriter David S. Goyer), with visually-striking filmmaker Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead, 300, Watchmen, Sucker Punch, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole) in the director's seat. In the title role as Clark Kent/Kal-El/Superman is Henry Cavill (The Immortals, "The Tutors"), with an amazing cast of supporting actors and actresses: Michael Shannon, Amy Adams, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Michael Kelly, Christopher Meloni, Harry J. Lennix, Ayelet Zurer, Antje Traue, and Laurence Fishburne.

The new film is as different as one could get from the emotional character piece that was Superman Returns. Instead of delving into what makes the world need Superman, and more importantly, how does Superman learn to live in a world where things have changed, this new incarnation strips away the emotional inner-conflict to delve into the origin: the character's need to understand what he is, who he is, where he came from, and in doing so understand his place on Earth (done in a fresh new way, though). Once he has the answers, he'll also need to come to terms with whether or not the human race can be trusted to not freak out when they find out the truth about him. While the basic "Who am I?" storyline has been covered in much more detail and in a much more tonally balanced, if not wholly entertaining, way by the Donner film, the latter 'trust-issues' are a new development that the film deals with nicely. Realistically speaking, how will the human race react when faced with the knowledge that not only are they not alone in the universe, but an alien is here among them.

The main departure from the previous films and comics, without going into the plot too much, is the way Krypton and Earth play into the story; or more specifically, how the original home of our hero brings the villainous General Zod and his loyal army into the story of Clark Kent on Earth. The film's main plot line deals with Zod's relationship to our hero, and the how's and why's of his villainy. By the way, but for a few minor details, it's almost nothing like the Zod famously portrayed by Terrence Stamp in Superman II.

Hands down, my favorite thing about Man of Steel is its villain, Zod, and the performance that brings him to life. Michael Shannon shines in the role, bringing a sense of menace and a distinct physical presence. He's the perfect film villain, a scary force to be reckoned with that isn't completely evil. He's got his reasons and they are valid in his eyes, they just aren't the right reasons and they are at odds with the hero.

Henry Cavill is a great Superman, as well, bringing a calm, heroic, normal-guy-yet-larger-than-life stature to the character. Add in a little bit of humor, a good understanding of his own humanity, all the things that make for a great Superman. Some of my favorite bits, surprisingly, are the little pieces of the past that pop up periodically throughout the film. Unlike the Donner version (but not unlike Singer's film, although there's much more shown here as it's a full-on reboot), Superman's past is shown via flashbacks during the film instead of the story being told chronologically. Basically, it doesn't start out with him as a kid growing up in Smallville and work it's way forward from there, it tells the story in a much more interesting/less seen-it-all-before way.

The other characters and their interactions with the lead and his story, however, are where my problems with the film begin. Amy Adams is a great choice for Lois Lane, but her character is written in a way that she seems like she's in on more information that she should be, or at the very least is processing everything that's going on around her a little too well to be completely believable. She's a great actress, I think it's just the way the role is written, or perhaps some cuts were made to keep the pace up. Anyway, she jumps into the craziness head-first a little too fast, in my opinion. Kevin Costner and Diane Lane are great in the roles of Jonathan and Martha Kent, but Costner's advice, expertly delivered and heartfelt in that Costner sort of way, feels at odds with itself at times. Conflicting moral stances in the same sentence? No wonder young Clark is so lost.

Russell Crowe, taking over the Jor-El duties from the legendary Marlon Brando, is another standout in the cast, as his acting experience brings a perfect balance of seriousness and levity to the answers he bestows upon his only son. The use of Jor-El as a character in the film is nicely done, as well, instead of simply existing to move the plot along. The rest of the cast: Harry Lennix and Christopher Meloni as the military officers, Antje Traue as Zod's second in command Faora, Fishburne as Perry White and Michael Kelly as Steve Lombard of the Daily Planet, Ayelet Zurer as Kal-El's birthmother Lara, they're all pretty good, some get used more than others for the story, but in the scenes they are in they do a good job.

The film is, by and large, all about the action. This is, what I feel, a direct response to the aforementioned criticisms by the internet community and Kevin Smith and so on that Superman Returns was too slow-paced, too character-heavy, and therefore "too boring" for a modern summer blockbuster. So, the action in Man of Steel is kicked into ultra-super-hyper-drive. Most of the time, it works, though. Some of the time, it's a bit much. For instance, the opening action scenes, while servicing the story, seem a little... goofy? Out of place? I don't know, the opening sequence is a mixed bag of awesome and "huh?"

When it works, the action utilizes the latest visual effects to portray Superman in a way never before seen on film. His speed, his strength, his powers, all of it are fully realized to the point where there is never a question that he, or the villains he's fighting, are not of this Earth. The way that it's all mixed up, too (the choreography, I mean), with super-fast dashes flowing perfectly into super-strong punches, launching targets into the air, and then in the blink of an eye flying out to catch a target in midair and toss them into a building or pound them back down into the pavement... it's pretty cool stuff, I must say.

They look super, the feel super. Downside: the scenes of destruction/consequences are also super, which is something that didn't sit well with me. Maybe I'm over-thinking it, but it seems to me that there's a lot of 'collateral damage' (i.e. millions of bystanders getting killed off screen) in these types of scenes (not unlike the New York or Chicago scenes in The Avengers and Transformers: Dark of the Moon, or to a lesser extent when Batman blows up the parked cars just so he can drive his bike through a parking lot in The Dark Knight... how did he know no one was in those cars? Obviously, some people are, because those kids were in there? What if he had hit their car, killing two kids just because he wasn't paying attention? Anyway, I think about this stuff sometimes, and it bugs me a little).

Getting back on point, when the action doesn't work, it's a muddled mess of dizzying "handheld" camera-work that makes those cool action scenes hard to follow. Most of the big scenes are well done and are well shot with the proper amount of energy felt in the movements, but there are a few times when some of the camera-work is ridiculously difficult to follow for no apparent reason. I'm a huge defender of camera movements that are done to deliberately evoke a feeling to bring an audience in (Cloverfield, the Bourne films), but I'll just as easily call out "shaky-cam bull****" when it's unnecessary and does a disservice to the scene for the sake of "looking cool." It bugs me because I've grown accustomed to noticing it in lesser films or crappy television action shows, and if I'm noticing the camera shaking because the camera guy is doing it on purpose to create the illusion of movement for the sake of making it stylish, then I'm being taken out of the scene and out of the movie, which is precisely what the camera moves are NOT supposed to do.

The visual effects are outstanding, as expected from a film like this. The production design work is great (the sets all looks amazing, especially the Kryptonian elements), the costumes are all great. In the context of the film, the changes to the costume work completely, all of the work involved with that seems to have paid off. The music score by Hans Zimmer is appropriately heroic, melancholy, pulse-pounding, and beautiful, and sounds like a Superman movie should. Which, honestly, is a real testament to Zimmer considering that the John Williams Superman theme is considered the second most recognizable theme in film history, behind Star Wars.

Overall, I liked the film. The few gripes that I have - such as the sometimes unnecessary use of distracting shaky camera movements, the slightly unbelievable reactions/actions by key supporting characters, the overly-destructive action scenes - are not deal-breakers for me. I still enjoyed the film, I had a lot of fun with it, and I think it's a good blockbuster movie. My biggest issue is that, while Man of Steel is more of a Superman movie than I think any of The Dark Knight trilogy are Batman films (i.e. Superman is doing Superman things in a movie about Superman), I still can't shake one itsy, bitsy tiny little thing...

I loved Superman Returns.

You can say anything you want about it, but nothing you say will change the fact that I think it's a perfect Superman film. I've stood by my original thoughts on it since it came out, that I like it more than Batman Begins, that it set up the character better for future films (it set up the world of Superman, as well as the characters), had more, and bigger, action set pieces, had a truer sense of the entire character and not just certain aspects of him, and since its release in 2006, my views have not changed. It's not a film that I watch all the time (I don't watch the 1978 Superman film all the time either, but I still consider it the best superhero film ever made). Yes, it is slow-paced, and while it has huge action scenes there are more small, emotional character moments than there is action. Yes, it's about Lex Luther again, since he's THE Superman villain (everyone complains about Luther, yet no one complains when The Joker is re-done again... strange). Yes, yes, yes, everything you hate about it is true... but I loved it, possibly for some of the very reasons that you hate it for.

Now that I have another Superman film in the form of Man of Steel, with all of the things that the last one lacked, I can say that I prefer my Superman to yours. I think mine "feels right." Superman Returns, love it or hate it, feels like a Superman film. Not because it feels like Donner's film, but because Donner got it right all those years ago. I would argue that if you don't like Superman Returns, maybe you don't like Superman, and you should stop trying to turn him into a character that he's not just because you think being a boyscout is an outdated notion, or that all superhero films need to be darker and more realistic, or that Superman needs to be updated with the times. The things that the character represents are things that should not change with the times (truth, justice, freedom, etc. are not era-specific). I don't hate your version, Man of Steel is definitely an epic Superman film with some of the most grandiose action scenes ever filmed, but I don't know... maybe I think there's more to super-strong characters than action scenes. (I like Ang Lee's Hulk better than Louis Leterrier's The Incredible Hulk, too... so, sue me).

Man of Steel may be more fun to watch, but I don't know if that makes it better. It didn't get to the heart of the character as well as previous entries, it didn't build up any relationships that were as believable as the ones in previous entries, and it didn't provide me with the feeling of hope that the previous entries did. When I watch Superman or Superman Returns, I feel like a kid again. When I came out of Man of Steel, I felt like I just watched a kickass summer action movie. I felt like I did walking out of Star Trek Into Darkness. No more, no less. It's fun, it's exciting, it's well done, and has a lot of awesome scenes and moments... but, there's a few little things I didn't like, and while they're forgivable things, something just didn't quite sit right overall.

I'll buy it, I'll like it, and I'll watch it again, but Tim Burton's Batman is still the best Batman movie, even though I gave a perfect rating to The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. Ang Lee's Hulk is still the best Hulk movie (not counting The Avengers, which is the best Hulk) despite the problems it has, and the 1978 Superman is still the best Superman movie, with Superman Returns coming in second.

Man of Steel is good, but it's a little too far in the other direction for me to say that I loved it.

MAN OF STEEL
(4 out of 5) (see below for rating revision)

- gARTh -

NOTE: When I came out of the theater after watching Zack Snyder's previous comic book adaptation Watchmen, I had a few little nitpicky things to say about the overly-violent violence in a few scenes (scenes where it didn't seem to be necessary, just there to be "cool"), overly-obvious song uses ("All Along the Watchtower" and "Sound of Silence" made me roll my eyes in the theater because they came across as comical), anyway... a few little things. Over time and with multiple viewings, though, I don't think about this stuff, and it sort of went away. Now I watch the film with no issues. So it is very possible that some of the things in Man of Steel, like the flow of action and the character reactions/actions feeling unbelievable, could go away. The movie could grow on me with multiple viewings, because as I said, I liked it for the most part. So take this entire review as a first impression.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

REVISION:
As far as Zack Snyder goes as a filmmaker, Man of Steel is not as unbalanced as Sucker Punch, but almost is. Sucker Punch looks better (it's filmed better, I mean), and has a tad more plot holes, but the more I think about Man of Steel, the more I find wrong with certain things. Maybe wrong isn't the right word.. the more certain things don't make any sense, and the more I think about those things, the more it ripples outwards to include other things.

My review rating is now 3.5 out of 5, I'm dropping .5 points because of issues I'm having with the basic plot making sense. You know how when you watch a Michael Bay movie certain things get covered up by the action, but when it's all said and done, and the action isn't right in your face, and you're left trying to piece together what it is you've watched, and you start going "wait a minute..." - I'm getting that sort of feeling now.

And in thinking about this, I came to a realization. David Goyer is a very uneven writer. Here's the films he's written the screenplays for on his own, without assistance from other writers: Kickboxer 2: The Road Back, Demonic Toys, Arcade, The Substitute (1993 TV movie, not the Tom Berenger film), The Crow: City of Angels, Blade, Zig Zag (also directed), Blade II, Blade: Trinity (also directed), The Unborn (also directed). Everything else he's done he's had help, and the best stuff, like Dark City and the Batman films, he had help from really talented people. He didn't write the screenplay for The Dark Knight or The Dark Knight Rises at all, he was just there to help come up with the story. the Nolan brothers wrote both of them on their own.

I think this makes  a difference, because the screenplay for Man of Steel feels more in line, concerning dialogue and plot-thread, with the Blade films than it does The Dark Knight series. There's too many issues. Without going into specifics and spoilers and such, think about if in Batman Begins there was no explanation on how the fear toxin worked, what it did, and really anything about it other than its name. So all of the stuff with how it ties into the villain's story and how the hero plans on doing this or that to counter it is all summed up with one or two very basic lines early in the film (that still don't offer much in the way of explanation), and for the rest of Batman Begins it's treated as if you should already know what it is. You'd still be able to follow what's going on, but it wouldn't make any sense in context. Plus, if you go into with your comic book knowledge, then it really doesn't make any sense, so it's not like the writing is simply hoping you already know what it is as a fan, because it's been changed for the film. That's sort of the issue I'm wrestling with in Man of Steel, and it's a major plot point.

Revised review rating: 3.5 out of 5

KMFDM's KUNST Album Review

Album Review:

KMFDM - KUNST (4.5 out of 5)

KUNST, the latest studio album from KMFDM, one of industrial and electronic music's most lasting pioneers -- soon to enter their 30th year -- showcases the band with absolutely no signs of growing old, going soft, or slowing down. It's not the best album they've ever made, but with eighteen studio albums, four remix albums/EPs, ten compilation albums, two live albums, two collaboration albums, a video-game score soundtrack album, thirty-one singles, and almost one hundred remixes under their belt... who cares! KUNST is a very strong album, all things considered, and possibly their strongest album as a whole since 2005's Hau Ruck (or, at the very least, 2007's Tohuvabohu). KMFDM is, in its current incarnation: Sascha Konietzko, Lucia Cifarelli, Jules Hodgson, Andy Selway, and Steve White.

The album's opener, the title track "Kunst" (the German word for "art"), is a great KMFDM for-the-fans song, taking its cue from 1996's "Inane" by consisting of lyrics comprised almost entirely of popular lines/titles from past songs of their extensive discography, laid over their patented ultra-heavy-beat (in Layman's terms: a fusion of an electronic beat mixed with live drums, synths, electronic bass mixed with live bass, and heavy guitar riffs... all with a certain KMFDM flair). KMFDM is one of the few bands out there that rocks as hard as any of their peers while still maintaining a beat that's highly infectious and danceable. "Kunst" is one of those songs that people unfamiliar with KMFDM sort of smirk at because they don't understand the name-dropping, self-aware humor (that's as big a part of their history as their musical style), and those that do simply rock out while grinning ear-to-ear. It may be a bit silly, but it's supposed to be, and besides... it kicks ass. ("Kunst" - 4/5)

This is followed by "Ave Maria," not a version of the famous Bach composition, but taken more literally as just "Hail Mary." It's a calmer and stream-lined, but no less intense, synth-driven track and one of the album's best. It's a great song, with an interesting melody, good lyrics (Lucia's vocals sound especially haunting at times), that still manages to rock (has some great guitars) and pulse and groove while upping the atmosphere and mood. ("Ave Maria" - 5/5)

The next few tracks: "Quake" (a fast-paced-and-heavy-as-hell industrial rocker), "Hello" (alternating between being the fastest, heaviest song on the album and being the slowest and calmest), and "Next Big Thing" (another electro-rocker, but, while the lyrics are good, it's definitely the weakest song on the album). ("Quake" - 4/5, "Hello" - 3/5, "Next Big Thing" - 3/5)

The second half of the album kicks off with the song "Pussy Riot," a song standing up for the infamous protest group of the same name, whose public protest against the corruption of the Russian government landed two of the members several years in forced-labor prison camps. It's a great protest song, full of the power, passion and strength of women not afraid to take a stand. The use of specific lines from 1995's "Disobedience" (one of my favorite KMFDM songs) were a welcome surprise, and it's amazing how great they fit into this new context. This is a stand-out track for the band, and another of the album's best. ("Pussy Riot" - 5/5)

"Pseudocide" features the best title of any song on the album, and it's a great straight-up rocker, with a different sort of beat than the rest of the rockin' songs to set it apart. It's got a catchy chorus and the lyrics are pretty good, but it's not as strong as it could be. Still good, just could be better. ("Pseudocide" - 3/5)

"Animal Out" is awesome, however, and probably has the best groove of the album. With a cool thumping electronic bassline and a great nod-your-head beat, some kickass riffs, and it all combines to make you want to get up and move. A fun, sexy, KMFDM club-hit in the making, somewhere between the fun of "Strut" and the coolness of "Professional Killer," and hands-down the song that's the most fun to simply listen to and enjoy on the album. ("Animal Out" - 5/5)

"The Mess You Made" begins with quiet and clean electric guitars over clips speaking about violence and crime, yet when it kicks into high-gear it immediately turns into fast-paced pounding beats (that keep getting louder), rockin' guitars, pulsing synths, all of the ingredients that make for a classic KMFDM song. It's got a great idea behind it, an interesting flow to the lyrics (guest vocalist William Wilson, of Legion Within and Morlocks, sort of sounds like Ministry's Al Jourgensen at times, and then there's some weird, slightly high-pitched vocals from Sascha). It reaches a point along the way where it almost overflows with too much of everything... but doesn't tip over. That chaos alone elevates the song into a favorite on the album, with its "Holy shit, this is sort of crazy!" vibe. A stand-out, balls-out KMFDM track destined to become a classic of their modern era. ("The Mess You Made" - 5/5)

Ending the album is "I Heart Not," a companion to a song released on last year's "Amnesia" single ("I Heart You"). It's got a cool beat reminiscent of something out of KMFDM's yesteryear (reminds me of some of the songs on 1989's UAIOE at times), with a neat slide-guitar riff here and there, a dark and catchy synth melody, and some fun, yet sinister, lyrics. ("I Heart Not" - 4/5)

Overall the album is great, and even at its weakest point in the middle it's still pretty decent. There's not a song on here that I absolutely loathe (as much as I love KMFDM, it happens... with as much experimentation that they do it's a given that at some point they're gonna try something that doesn't sit right with me, but when a band has around 350 songs they're allowed a few duds), and only a few that I see myself skipping after a few listens. Out of ten new songs, I have six songs that I'll now listen to as a part of my regular KMFDM rotation, and the rest I'll come back to now and then. In today's music climate, that's great.

The album art, it should be noted, was created by go-to KMFDM album designer BRUTE! as a symbol for the whole Pussy Riot situation (whose protest was taken slightly out of context because it happened at a church). I imagine the album art itself will be taken out of context by some, but such is the way of these things. Art, in so many ways, is meant to stir things up, poke and prod things that are usually considered off limits, and should make one wonder "Why did the artist do THAT?!" So, if it's taken out of context, just like the group of women that it was created in support of, then that's fine. At least people are talking about it.

And taking all of this into account, I feel that the album's title KUNST, meaning "art" but also having similarities in its English pronunciation to the word "cunts" and all that it brings to mind, is quite possibly one of their best titles. The album as a whole represents one of their best efforts to both make a fun, entertaining album while still throwing a little political message in your face (not a lot, it's no WWIII, but just enough to get a few conversations started). KMFDM is fun, and funny, but has and always will be one of those bands that makes it a point to point out injustices in the world. The band, which began in Hamburg, Germany in 1984, five years before the fall of the Berlin Wall and all that it represented, has always, musically and lyrically, fought against political injustice and tyrannical uses of power by those in power, and more than anything, fought for the right of the people to rally against these things by standing ground and standing up.

KMFDM is still alive, still ripping the system, still doin' what they do best, by providing solid ultra-heavy-beat entertainment for the masses, while giving a little food-for-thought to those who want it. Here's to hoping that there's plenty more to come as they begin their third decade in music.

KUNST is now available for purchase.

Please be aware that KMFDM is not a "music-industry band," and they record and produce their own albums and release them on KMFDM Records, through a distribution partnership with indie-music label Metropolis Records. The revenue that comes from album sales goes directly to them, and the only people that get anything else, really, are Metropolis Records, who help them get their albums in stores and with touring and such. Basically, by downloading this album for free, you ARE actually hurting people that need this money to pay their rent, eat, support their families, etc. as well as pay for domestic and international tours, pay for equipment, and pay to record future albums. Please, even if you normally download music for free, at least help support the artists that are not a part of the mainstream music-industry, the ones that need and deserve it. Thank you.

- gARTh-